The hill called Difficulty

Im reading a book called The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan published in 1678. Its a fictional story of a guy called Christian who is on a journey from the city of Destruction to Mount Zion. On his way he encounters many characters and situations that either attempt to help or discourage him from his quest. It is an allegory of the Christian life. The following is from a point in the book where Christian comes to a steep hill, the path he has been told to follow goes straight up, and there are two other paths that lead around the hill, Christian says this as he climbs:

This Hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend;
For I perceive the way to life lies here;
Come, pluck up, Heart; lets neither faint nor fear :
Better, tho’ difficult, th’right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is wo.

Man I love that. I read it last night and have just been going over it, and over it again. It speaks so much encouragement to me where I am right now. In the recent little while and maybe longer I have struggled with a feeling that things should just be a whole lot easier than they are. I mean I shouldn’t have to fight the devil, gosh its hard work, gosh I’m tired of it. Spending time with god shouldn’t be so hard! As you might imagine being in denial about have to fight the devil, or just not wanting to, leaves you open for him to walk all over you. Though I don’t want to fight, he sure does. He doesn’t like it when I spend time with god, feel good about myself, realise gods love, or resist temptation. I don’t like the effort needed to do these things, but they don’t happen spontaneously. Though its hard being a Christian its a hill I want to ascend! For I perceive the way to life lies there. Its better that I realise its hard but its right, rather than be constantly frustrated that its hard.